'Homeland' finale ratings

Homeland ended with a bang on Sunday: The finale attracted 1.71 million viewers at 10 and another 2.03 million for the night — making it the highest-rated finale for a freshman series in Showtime history.

That’s a 58 percent gain from the series premiere (1.08 million); it’s also the most-watched episode in the drama’s run. In fact, Homeland is Showtime’s highest-rated freshman show to date: The net says the drama averaged 4.23 million total viewers across multiple platforms and is now the second most popular show on Showtime behind Dexter.

Speaking of which, the season 6 finale of the serial killer drama averaged 2.23 million viewers at 9 and 2.71 million for the night. The episode represented the most-watched telecast of an original show on Showtime for all of 2011.